Longtime Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, a defendant in the case, has taken the stand.

McConney testified that he was responsible for Trump's statement of financial condition from 2011 until 2017, when the responsibility was passed on to another employee.

But McConney was quick to differentiate his role from that of the organization's accounting firm, Mazar's USA.

"We as the Trump Organization didn't prepare the statement," McConney said.

Unlike most witnesses who generally aren't allowed to hear other witnesses testify, McConney -- as a defendant in the case -- is entitled to be in the courtroom for the entire trial. However, today is the first time he has appeared.

Pressing Mazars USA accountant Donald Bender on how often he asked the Trump Organization for appraisals of the former president's assets during the years he worked on Trump's account, defense lawyers attempted to portray Bender as neglecting to do his job compiling Trump's financial reports.

"I didn't know that the Trump Organization had any access to appraisals they did not give me," Bender testified.

The longtime Trump accountant struggled to articulate how often he made requests for appraisals, and defense counsel Clifford Robert drilled into the fact that those requests appear to never have been made in writing to Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney.

"You don't really know what you asked Jeff McConney," Robert told Bender.

Bender was also asked about Trump's three adult children, who all previously served as executives in the Trump Organization, and whether they were involved with Trump's statement of financial condition.

The accountant said that -- apart from a brief conversation he once had with Eric Trump -- Eric, Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump were not involved in issuing Trump's financial statements.

On redirect examination, state attorneys briefly asked questions of Bender suggesting that the defense's questions had been based on an outdated accounting standard.

That concluded Bender's testimony.

Trump attorney Jesus Suarez, in his cross-examination of longtime Trump accountant Donald Bender, is attempting to ask Bender about each year's compilation of Trump's statement of financial condition.

In response, facing the possibility of hours of repetitive questions, Judge Engoron said he would limit Suarez to an hour and a half of cross-examination.

Defense lawyer Clifford Robert is also expected to question Bender.

The defense's cross-examination of longtime Trump accountant Donald Bender has resumed.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is attending court today, but Eric Trump of the Trump Organization is absent from the gallery.

When Donald Trump attended over the first three days of the trial, the gallery was packed -- but without him in attendance, it's now roughly half full.

Judge Engoron fined former President Trump $10,000 for violating a limited gag order after deciding that Trump referred disparagingly to his law clerk during a statement in the hallway.

Trump briefly took the witness stand, raising his hand and stating his name, "Donald John Trump, New York."

Engoron asked Trump, "Did you say, 'This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside of him?'"

Trump responded "Yes," but insisted he was referring to Michael Cohen, who was seated next to the judge in the witness chair.

"You sure you didn't mean the person on the other side?" Engoron asked, referring to his law clerk, whom Trump previously disparaged in a social media post that the judge ordered him to take down as part of the limited gag order he imposed earlier in the trial.

"Yes, I'm sure," Trump answered.

Trump conceded his social media post was "maybe unfair" but he added he thinks "she's very unfair."

Engoron decided Trump's hallway statement must have referred to his clerk because "there's a barrier" between the bench and Cohen, and he suggested Trump would have called Cohen by name.

The defense immediately balked at the fine.

"I just don't think there's any clear record here," defense attorney Chris Kise said.